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Jaime Fuller

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A favorite trope of election coverage is to compare the current race to past elections. Is Barack Obama Jimmy Carter in 1980? Is 2012 a repeat of the 2004 election? Or is this year going to be just like 1896? With Mitt Romney, however, there's a far easier comparison: Mitt Romney in 2008. In the last presidential election cycle, Romney faced many of the same criticisms he does now: He was accused of being a flip-flopper and assailed for his religion and personal wealth. His failure to respond effectively to these accusations—and his fateful decision to stake his campaign on a win in Iowa—were his downfall. But Romney seems to have learned some lessons. After investing heavily in Iowa in 2008, Mike Huckabee trounced the former Massachusetts governor at the last minute in a surprise win. Huckabee’s unexpected victory had a lot to do with the odd structure of the Iowa caucuses. In a caucus, voters don’t have the flexibility of voting from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in a...

Congress' studied effort at ignoring the Occupy movement isn't that surprising when you take a look at legislators' tax returns: Many representatives sit comfortably in the 1 percent. Between 1984 and 2009, the median income of members of the House ballooned from $280,000—an already impressive figure—to $ 725,000 , according to the new Panel Study of Income Dynamics from the University of Michigan. An analysis of the study in The Washington Post did not include figures for the Senate. In comparison, the median income of an American family has slipped from $20,600 to $20,500 over the same time period. No wonder that Congress was squeamish about passing a millionaire surtax or signing on to support the protesters in Zuccotti Park. This congressional income gap partly reflects how expensive it is to run a campaign: the price of a successful bid for a seat in the U.S. House has quadrupled to $1.4 million since 1976. Unless Congress takes another stab at campaign finance—or, at the risk of...

The long battle is over, and the troops are headed home. House Republicans finally caved on a two-month extension on the payroll tax cut, realizing that their intransigence was winning them nothing but voter contempt. Congress cleared the $33 billion legislation this morning. The only concessions rewarded to the obstructionists were a minor provision protecting businesses from a few payroll-reporting requirements and an agreement to push a conference committee to negotiate a year-long extension on the tax cut. The undeniable winners of this legislative fight were the Democrats. Although the pressure to eke out a compromise was intense, they didn't cave. They can now start off the election year with an impressive win that will broadcast well on the airwaves and show voters that they are the party that pushes to help the middle class. President Barack Obama is also starting 2012 in an excellent position. He spent most of the tax-cut debate in the shadows, but on Tuesday he told the...

You might think that the only thing Karl Rove and Barack Obama agree on is that gravity exists. But yesterday, Rove agreed with the White House that it’s time for Republicans in the House to cut their losses and pass the Senate's two-month extension on the payroll tax cut before they go home for the holidays. The Senate has already gone home, which means the House can't strike up a new deal: It can either vote on the extension or let the tax cuts expire. Rove told Fox News on Wednesday that Republicans "have lost the optics on it” and “the question now is how do the Republicans get out of it." "Use [the showdown]] for political theater, vote to pass the two-month extension, and get out of town," Rove said. It isn’t actually that surprising that Rove supports passing the Senate’s version of the payroll tax cut bill, which failed in the House on Tuesday. It's a no-brainer, and if the Tea Party Republicans were thinking electorally, they would have voted for it. No voter is going to be...

Yesterday, the House rejected a Senate compromise bill on the payroll tax cut, which is set to expire January 1. In all likelihood, this means that taxes will rise—an average of $40 per paycheck, according to the latest White House press blitz—unless House Speaker John Boehner shores up enough support to pass a two-month extension or brokers a new deal. Although Obama hasn't left Washington for vacation in Hawaii yet, he isn't getting too involved in the imbroglio, having learned the danger of using the bully pulpit with his jobs plan—for Republicans, whose sole aim seems to be to frustrate the president's agenda, any endorsement from Obama amounts to a kiss of death. “It’s like déjà vu all over again. It’s like ‘Groundhog Day,’” said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), referring to the 112th Congress’ propensity for stalemate. Waxman is right, but this time it's a bit different. Previous congressional battles over the stimulus, health care, and the jobs plan were rooted in electoral...